


run into the fire

by intothewoodz



Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demon Hunters, Alternate Universe - Demons, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, they're also in college
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28172949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intothewoodz/pseuds/intothewoodz
Summary: Yanan and Changgu have been friends for years, so Yanan isn't a stranger to the latter getting hooked on random hobbies. He thought if he could get through the ASMR phase, then he could get through anything. Turns out, he was wrong.Changgu is very enthusiastic about his new choice of hobby, demon hunting. Yanan, secretly a demon in disguise, is significantly less enthusiastic.
Relationships: Yan An/Yeo Changgu | Yeo One
Comments: 10
Kudos: 46
Collections: Constellations Fest for Pentagon





	run into the fire

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: yanan and changgu are the closest friends you can imagine. When changgu decides he's going to start hunting demons, yanan is extremely scared. changgu thinks he's scared of demons, but yanan is actually a demon in disguise. he really wants to tell him but he doesn't want their friendship to end. When yanan sees that changgu is serious about this idea, he decides to just come out and tell him the truth.
> 
> dear prompter, i've never really written anything like this, but i could not stop thinking about this prompt so i did my best!! i really hope you like it!!
> 
> (please do not read too much into how demons work in this universe because quite honestly, i do not know either i'm sorry)

When Changgu prefaces his big announcement with “I need you to promise me not to freak out,” Yanan is already apprehensive, and understandably so he thinks.

“I want to try demon hunting,” he says and Yanan desperately wants him to be kidding but the determined look on his best friend’s face tells him that isn’t the case.

“W-why would you want to do that?”

“Wouldn’t it be so cool?

“It’s dangerous!” Yanan shouts.

“You promised not to freak out.”

“I did no such thing!” Yanan says. Yanan thinks he has every right to freak out. He is definitely freaking out.

It’s not the first time Changgu has gotten stuck on some random hobby. For a while, it was photography, working out, and even ASMR, but this is different. The types of hobbies he normally picks up are completely harmless, fun little things to do when he has too much free time on his hands, but this? Demon hunting is far from harmless.

“It’ll be fine!” Changgu reassures. “They’ll give me proper training and everything before I’m even allowed to do anything. It’s totally safe.”

“Wait, who’s ‘they?’”

“Some people I got introduced to. They’ve all been doing this for years. I promise I’ll be fine.”

Yanan doesn’t know what to say, but just the look on his face is enough for Changgu to know he’s upset.

“What are you so worried for?”

“Why aren’t _you_ more worried?! Hunting demons is dangerous!”

“Yanan-ah, are you scared of demons?” he asks, eyes softening and reaching over to give his best friend a reassuring pat on the back.

Changgu’s not entirely wrong. Yanan is scared, yes, but not for the reasons Changgu thinks. Yanan isn’t scared _of_ the demons, he’s scared _for_ them. In this case, for _himself_.

Sometimes even Yanan forgets the fact that he’s actually a demon in disguise. Well, technically, he’s only half demon and he’s always felt much more connected to his human side, choosing to live an ordinary life amongst mortals, but there are still times when his supernatural side comes in handy, if only just to release a bit of dark energy to ward off unwanted pests. There's a reason why his room has never seen even a single bug.

“Yanan?” Changgu says, concerned at his prolonged silence.

He pauses for just another moment, still unsure of how to respond, before settling on, “I think I have good reason to be scared.” It’s true.

To say he’s scared is even an understatement. Yanan is terrified of Changgu getting hurt, knowing firsthand just how vicious creatures of the underworld can be, but even more than that, he’s terrified of Changgu finding out his true identity. If he gets trained and is taught how to sense demonic energy, Yanan isn’t sure how long he’ll be able to keep up his façade and when his disguise crumbles, so will everything else.

“Think about it like this instead,” Changgu says, pulling Yanan from his thoughts. “If I do this, then I’ll be able to protect you from all the scary demons! So you don’t have anything to worry about!”

“Yeah,” Yanan says hesitantly, not sounding reassured at all (because he isn’t) but hoping that it’s at least enough for Changgu to drop the subject for now.

“I promise everything will be fine.”

Yanan only wishes he had that same confidence.

* * *

In the next few weeks, Yanan slowly comes to terms with the fact that Changgu doesn’t seem to want to drop this demon hunting thing anytime soon.

At least so far, Changgu hasn’t gotten any closer to uncovering his secret, but Yanan can’t help but worry that any day could be the day. When his best friend excitedly reports that his demon hunting mentors told him his ability to sense supernatural energy is increasing rapidly, Yanan feels his blood run cold. Well, it’s always cold by normal human standards anyway, but technicalities aside, the point is that Yanan spends every second terrified, wondering when he’ll be found out.

Luckily, Changgu doesn’t seem too suspicious of his abnormally jumpy behavior, writing it off as Yanan’s fear of demons in general. If anything, it just makes Changgu even more eager to report his progress, telling Yanan it’ll be okay since he’s getting stronger to protect him.

At least so far though, Changgu only seems to have been dealing with lesser demons, creatures so weak that they don’t even have a proper physical form. They’re more a small cloud of dark energy than a real demon.

That is, until Changgu comes running to him one day to excitedly report that he’s hunted his first real demon.

“Yanan-ah, you should’ve seen me! It was so cool, the demon kinda looked like a wolf made of shadows or something, but it was twice my size and I was still able to actually kill it. Can you believe that? _I_ hunted it. Me!”

“T-that’s amazing,” Yanan says with as much enthusiasm as he can muster, which admittedly is not a ton.

“You don’t have to worry so much,” Changgu says, sensing his best friend’s unease. “Hongseok-hyung was with me too, so I would’ve been safe regardless, but even he said that I’m starting to get really good at this.”

Yanan has learned that Hongseok was one of the people Changgu had first met and who had convinced him to start all this demon-hunting business in the first place. That fact alone makes Yanan resent him just a little bit.

What ticked him off even more was when Changgu started spending less time with him because of training. Too often he would get a texts like “sorry I’ll be a bit late, Hongseok-hyung was showing me a new technique and I lost track of time,” or “sorry I can’t make it today, there’s mandatory training and hyung will kill me if I skip.” Between canceled hangouts and his constant fear of his identity being found out even when they are together, he really just misses his best friend.

He knows it’s not Changgu’s fault at all, but Yanan still can’t help but be upset so naturally, his resentment falls on the only other possible target.

“Stop frowning so much, you’ll get wrinkles,” Changgu chides, playfully punching him in the arm to try and lighten the mood.

“I don’t care.”

“Well, yeah, you’d still be handsome anyway,” he says so casually, so matter-of-factly, that Yanan almost misses it.

But he doesn’t. Still, he manages to keep his composure because over the years, Yanan has learned to hide both the fact that he’s half demon and the fact that he’s secretly in love with his best friend pretty well. Instead, he files that comment away for later when he’s tucked into bed with no one else but his own thoughts.

“So, what’s next?” Yanan asks, trying to change the subject.

“Hm?”

“Are you some professional demon hunter now? Do you need a license for that? How do these things work?”

“No, I’m not nearly at the level where I could hunt by myself yet,” Changgu laughs. Yanan doesn’t find it nearly as amusing, but he supposes it’s good that his best friend still isn’t at the stage where he could discover his identity and kill him on sight.

“Oh. How long do you think it’ll take for you to get to that level?” he asks, trying his best to sound casual.

“I don’t know for sure, but Hongseok-hyung said I’ve been improving really fast!”

Ah. Hongseok. It’s always Hongseok, Yanan thinks bitterly. For a moment, he wonders if he would prefer Changgu to just become a full-fledged demon hunter already just so he can stop hearing about him all the time.

“Don’t worry,” Changgu continues. “In no time, I’ll be strong enough to protect you!”

Yanan smiles, touched at the other’s concern for him. He lets himself hope that maybe, just maybe, Changgu cares about him enough to overlook the fact that he’s actually one of the creatures he’s meant to be fighting.

The hope doesn’t last very long.

* * *

Yanan doesn’t know what to do, so he looks towards the only person he can in a situation like this.

“Jinho-hyung, I don’t what to do.”

“Yanan-ah, I think you’re overthinking things. You should just tell him.”

Yanan promptly drops his head down onto the table in front of him out of frustration. So much for getting helpful advice.

Jinho chuckles at him in a way that most people probably assume demons are incapable of. That, however, is a common misconception because despite his small stature and cute appearance, Jinho is actually also a demon. In fact, he’s a full demon unlike Yanan who’s only half.

Jinho had instantly recognized Yanan’s true identity and confronted him shortly after they met, causing the younger to immediately panic and try to flee. Even after finding out that Jinho himself was a demon, the fact that he was a full demon just made him more intimidating and Yanan was admittedly a bit scared of him. Still, that didn’t stop the older from taking Yanan under his wing (quite literally, as his true form has two large, beautiful wings sprouting from his back) and teaching him ways to better control his dark energy.

The demons that Changgu’s been facing up until may look threatening with wisps of pitch black smoke emanating from them, but in reality, they’re only like that because they’re too weak to contain their dark energ, letting it cascade off of them instead. The more powerful the demon, the better they are at containing it and therefore, the more harmless they appear.

“Can’t you teach me some sort of invincible technique for hiding my powers to make sure he’s never able to find out?” Yanan whines.

“You know that’s not a thing,” Jinho chides, though his tone is gentle. “When was the last time you even used your powers at all?”

Yanan blinks. He can’t even remember the last time. With Changgu always appearing by his side sooner or later, the risk of getting found out is too great.

“That’s not good, Yanan” Jinho says, understanding what his silence means. His eyebrows furrow in concern. “The more you bottle it up, the harder it’s gonna be to control. You need to let it out sometimes, even if just a little.”

“But now that Changgu’s getting better at sensing it, it’s too dangerous.”

“And if you let it build up so much that you lose control, it’ll be even more dangerous.”

“I know, but—hyung, he can’t find out. I can’t let him find out. I can’t lose him.”

“Yanan-ah,” Jinho calls gently. “Shouldn’t you have a little more faith in him? You won’t lose him over something like this.”

“How can you be so sure of that? I’m a _demon_ , hyung.”

“Correction: I’m a demon, you’re only a _half_ -demon.”

“So? He’s been spending all his free time on trying to hunt demons and thinks they’re all dangerous, evil creatures.

“Yanan, do you think I’m evil just because I’m a demon?”

“No, of course not, but it’s different! Humans automatically label all demons as dangerous. It’s what he’s been taught to think.”

“He’s your best friend.”

“And he thinks I’m his normal, _fully human_ best friend. If he finds out…” Yanan pauses, fists clenching and tears forming in the corner of his eyes at just the thought. “I don’t want him to hate me. I can’t let that happen.”

“He won’t hate you.”

“You can’t know that!” he shouts, but it comes out in hiccups. “I can’t lose him. I—I love him.”

Jinho’s eyes widen in surprise, not at the revelation itself because it’s always been rather obvious, but the fact that Yanan’s finally willing to admit it. For as long as Jinho’s known the younger, he’s often tried to push Yanan to act on his feelings, but he would always brush him off.

“Yanan, look at me,” Jinho says and the younger obediently follows the instruction. “Changgu is your best friend. He loves you just as much as you love him. You’ve been friends for years and he knows you would never do anything to hurt him.”

“But—”

“Do you trust him?”

“I’d trust him with my life.”

“Then, have more faith in him. Telling him won’t change how much he cares about you.”

“Hyung, I’m scared.”

Jinho wraps him in a tight hug, stroking his back comfortingly. “I know, but you’ll be okay. I promise.”

The arms around him feel warm and comforting and hope starts to bloom in his chest once more. This time, he lets it stay.

* * *

It turns out that though Yanan’s made up his mind about telling Changgu, finding the courage to actually do so remains a tall hurdle. Jinho’s constant nagging doesn’t do much to help either.

After all, what is the best way to tell your best friend of many years that you’ve been secretly hiding the fact that you’re part demon throughout your whole friendship, your best friend who also coincidentally is training to be a demon hunter?

Yanan really wishes someone could tell him the answer to that question. Should he spring it on him out of nowhere, casually slip it into conversation and hope that his nonchalance rubs off so that they move past it as if nothing happened? Should he tell him late at night when he’s already half-asleep so he writes it off as a dream and they never have to properly address it? If that happens, Yanan can tell Jinho that he tried his best to tell him, but it just didn’t work out. Definitely not his fault.

Or maybe, if he really has to tell him properly, it’s best to do it in broad daylight so that he won’t be able to make a big scene without fear of attention from random passerby.

Yanan considers his options. He continues to consider them for days on end, going back and forth and weighing the pros and cons of each one.

Unfortunately, every single option he can possibly think of comes with far more cons than pros.

He sighs, head flopping down onto the open textbook in front of him. He’d come to the library under the pretense of studying, but it was clear that his brain refused to entertain a single thought that wasn’t about Changgu. Since his textbook had no use as a study material, he figured he could at least use it as a headrest, burying his head in his arms, as if hiding away from the light would do anything to ward off his problems. He stays like that for a while until he hears approaching footsteps and a hand comes to gently pat his head.

“What’s got you so down?” Changgu asks, pulling up a chair next to him.

“I’m just really screwed for this exam,” he lies.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like studying is going too well considering your book is upside down.”

Yanan blinks at Changgu and then looks back down at his textbook, which is indeed, oriented about 180 degrees more than it should be.

“Yeah,” he laughs nervously. “I really couldn’t concentrate. Clearly.”

“Well, then I’d say it’s probably time we get out of here.”

“Changgu, you got here like two seconds ago.”

“I only came in here looking for you. I’ve accomplished my purpose.”

“Well, maybe _I_ haven’t,” Yanan counters.

“And it didn’t look like you were going to anytime soon, so let’s go.” Without waiting for a response, Changgu promply closes Yanan’s textbook and starts gathering his things for him.

Yanan sighs, doing nothing to stop him, not wanting to cause a scene in the library.

That’s partially the reason he wanted to stay in the first place. Telling your demon-hunting best friend that you’re part demon is definitely something that might cause a scene, so being in a library with a no talking policy is a perfectly valid excuse to put off having that conversation. Unfortunately, with Changgu practically dragging him out the door, he’s not going to be able to use that excuse for much longer.

Even though the sun has set, the weather outside is warm, a sharp contrast from the library which always has its air conditioner on full blast.

“So where are we going?” he asks as Changgu leads him out of the building.

“I didn’t really have a plan. Have you eaten yet?”

“I had a late lunch, so I figured I would just skip dinner.”

“Yanan, that’s not healthy! First stop, we’re finding you some dinner.”

“Changgu, it’s fine. It’s already late anyway.”

“Actually, I just happened to be craving some ramen and if we go now, we can probably get a bunch of discounted stuff,” he says, charging forward so that Yanan has no time to argue.

Even without mentioning the name, Yanan knows exactly where they’re headed. The small convenience store is a bit farther from the dorms, but it’s run by a nice family and after the two had discovered it by chance one day, they never stopped going back. Their selection of kimbap is made fresh every day, which means that anything that remains in the few hours before closing gets extremely discounted, a fact that Yanan and Changgu have taken advantage of on many occasions. 

They’ve walked the same route countless times, but the familiarity of it hits Yanan like a truck. His feet fall into place, knowing exactly where they’re supposed to go, exactly when to turn, but it’s precisely the fact that he does it so naturally that brings on the realization of how long it’s been since they’ve done this. It surprises him how well he remembers this route, even recognizing the flyers in the shop windows that they pass along the way, but it surprises him even more that he thought it was possible he could ever forget.

They haven’t come here since before all of this started, since a simpler time when Yanan didn’t have to worry about being hunted by his best friend.

It almost sounds silly when he says it like that. The Changgu he knows wouldn’t even hurt a fly, proclaiming it to be innocent and having done nothing wrong. He only wanted to hunt demons with the intention of protecting others, but the Changgu he knows also knows Yanan. The Changgu he knows trusts Yanan.

Suddenly, everything no longer feels so complicated.

“Changgu, I have something to tell you,” he announces with newfound confidence.

“Hm?”

“You should know that—look out!” Yanan shouts, pushing Changgu out of the way of a burst of dark energy.

It slipped his mind that the area they’re passing through happens to have a lot of low-level demons wandering about. Usually, Yanan would emit just enough of his own powers to scare off any potential threats, but recently he’s been suppressing it constantly out of fear of Changgu being able to sense it.

“It’s a demon! I’ll protect you,” Changgu says, gesturing for Yanan to stay back. Still, he doesn’t miss the tremble in his best friend’s voice or the way his hands shake in fear. It’s not a powerful demon by any means, but it had caught them off guard and Changgu’s never had to fight without the reassurance of having his mentors behind him either.

But, even if he doesn’t know it, he still has Yanan behind him.

The demon surges forward, but Changgu remains frozen in shock, leaving Yanan no choice. He quickly jumps in front of his friend, holding out a hand and sending out a powerful blast that propels the demon backward before dissipating altogether.

The blast is much stronger than Yanan intended though, he himself forced back a few steps from the recoil and Changgu pushed down to the ground behind him.

Jinho was right that his powers would build up and grow out of control. He only wishes he had taken his advice then.

“Changgu!” he calls out in worry, turning around to check on the other only to find him staring up at him, eyes wide.

It’s hard to decipher the emotions flickering through his face. Shock. Confusion. _Fear_.

“I—I can explain,” Yanan stammers, though he no longer knows what to say. Sure, he had been about to confess just a few minutes ago, but that had been on his own terms. This most certainly is not. His secret’s been ripped out of him by force and the words that he’d been preparing to say snatched away with it.

“You’re a demon,” Changgu says, his tone a mix between a statement and a question.

“Half-demon, actually.” As if that makes things any better. Yanan looks down at his feet, unable to bear seeing his best friend’s face. Once the revelation starts to settle, if Changgu’s expression shifts from pure shock to one of fear, digust even, Yanan knows he’ll crumble. His eyes are planted firmly on the ground as he continues, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not telling you. I’m sorry for deceiving you. I’m sorry that you had to be friends with a demon for all this time.”

Yanan feels tears threatening to fall and he squeezes his eyes shut in an attempt to stop them. “I understand if you hate me,” he says, though the words hurt to admit aloud. He keeps his head down, but raises both arms in surrender. “I promise won’t fight back, if you want to… you know.”

Changgu doesn’t say a word as he pulls himself up from the ground, walking towards him until they’re mere inches apart. Yanan watches as Changgu’s fist clenches tightly. He braces himself for the blow.

“I can’t believe you,” Changgu finally says, voice cracking. He raises his fist and it makes contact with Yanan’s chest.

There’s no power behind it. Yanan finally looks up.

“Changgu—”

“You’re so stupid,” he says, his other hand weakly punching him as well. “I can’t believe you thought I would hate you. I can’t believe you thought I would hurt you.” Each sentence is paired with yet another hit against his chest.

“You’re not mad?”

“Of course I’m mad!” Changgu shouts and Yanan flinches. “I’ve been going on for months about hunting demons without realizing how much it was troubling you. I’m mad that I didn’t notice. I’m mad that I put you through that. I’m mad that you _let me_.”

“Changgu, it’s not your fault. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you earlier, but I was scared. At first, I thought demon hunting was just another one of your random hobbies and you would forget about it quickly, but then you only got more serious about it and I didn’t know how to bring it up anymore. I didn’t know what you’d think and I—I guess I thought it would be easier not to know.”

“I only really got serious about it because you got so scared every time I brought it up and I thought I could make it better if I got strong enough to protect you. I guess I was wrong about that. In a lot of ways,” he says, letting out an embarrassed chuckle. “But thank you for saving me.”

Changgu wraps his arms around Yanan, pulling him into a tight hug. He feels heat rise to his cheeks at the contact. It’s not like physical affection is completely foreign to them after being friends for so long, but this feels different and he can’t place why.

“A-anytime,” Yanan says, unable to shake the feeling of nervousness that has suddenly overcome him. “I would do anything for you. I love you.”

The words slip out before he can even register them. He panics, quickly scanning Changgu’s face for any sign of a reaction. Their friendship has just passed the hurdle of revealing that he’s secretly part demon, but Yanan can only hope that it’s strong enough to overcome this one too.

Seconds pass like hours as Changgu’s expression remains frozen, not letting anything slip. Yanan briefly considers fleeing, but that thought is interrupted when Changgu finally speaks.

“So how do your powers work?”

“What?” Yanan can’t believe that Changgu completely brushed off the fact that he just confessed his love for him in favor of asking about his powers. Sure, that part must have been shocking too, but weren’t there more pressing topics at hand?

“Like, if you get surprised or something, could you accidentally attack me or something?”

“No, what kind of stupid question is th—”

Yanan’s eyes widen in surprise as Changgu cups his cheek and swiftly leans in to kiss him.

Oh.

“I just wanted to make sure it was safe to do that,” Changgu says, chuckling at Yanan’s reaction. “I love you too. For a while now, actually.”

“M-me too,” Yanan admits, feeling himself blushing even more.

While it didn’t go exactly as planned, Yanan finds that today’s outcome is actually far better than he expected. He had started out with a best friend and two secrets he desperately wanted to keep from him and now he has a boyfriend and nothing to hide.

With all that weight lifted off his shoulders, he feels like he could fly. He practically does, surging forward so quickly that it startles his companion.

“If we don’t hurry up, we won’t make it before they close!” he shouts and Changgu doesn’t miss a beat before running after him, their laughter filling the quiet streets.

Yanan knows that there’s still things to discuss and questions to answer, questions that he’s been running from all this time, questions that ate at him and made it feel as if he’d been desperately running only for everything around him to go up in flames.

But now is different.

He’s running, but he’s not running away anymore _._ Yanan is running forward, running straight into the fire.

There are still things to work out, but for once, Yanan believes it will be okay. With Changgu by his side, he knows they can overcome anything

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!! it's my first time writing for pentagon so i really hope i did the boys justice!
> 
> it would make me very very happy if you left some kudos/comments! and i can be found on twt @wooloodz if you would like to be friends <3


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